Temporarily going from RAID1 to single drive...

[Philip G]

The motherboard on my PC died, so I want to transfer some essential files
to my backup PC. However, my backup PC doesn't have RAID1 capability, and
the data is stored in a RAID1 array.

My question is therefore: can I temporarily connect one of my RAID 1 drives
to PC2 to copy those files, without risk of losing data when I put the
drive back into the RAID array? If so, what precautions should I take for
this operation? My OS is XPSP2. The HDDs are SATA drives.

Thanks!

- Philip

 

[Joep]

The motherboard on my PC died, so I want to transfer some essential files
to my backup PC. However, my backup PC doesn't have RAID1 capability, and
the data is stored in a RAID1 array.

My question is therefore: can I temporarily connect one of my RAID 1 drives
to PC2 to copy those files, without risk of losing data when I put the
drive back into the RAID array? If so, what precautions should I take for
this operation? My OS is XPSP2. The HDDs are SATA drives.

It's more important to know the RAID controller and look it up in the manual
or in the manufacturer's support section. For example, one of the RAID1's I
have here, I can disconnect a disk from and access it, however I can not
move it back without the controller 'initializing' the array again. However,
the initialization by this particular controller can be easily recovered
from in this case.

 

[Philip G]

It's more important to know the RAID controller and look it up in the
manual or in the manufacturer's support section. For example, one of
the RAID1's I have here, I can disconnect a disk from and access it,
however I can not move it back without the controller 'initializing'
the array again. However, the initialization by this particular
controller can be easily recovered from in this case.

Thank you!

- Philip